This is the sound of Iceage finding a balance between getting older and seeking immortality by way of leaping into an abandoned-lot fire head-first. It’s beautiful and ugly at the same time and, for now, Iceage have found their own unstable sense of peace.

The thing Ronnenfelt and his bandmates are trying to communicate is honesty above all – sometimes it’s brutal to match the music, sometimes it’s not; it’s whatever it has to be to get real feeling across.

That same darkness permeates the entire record just as it did on their last two full-lengths, but on ‘Plowing into the Field of Love’, it’s fully realised and refined; harnessed like a tool that’s able to craft something truly epic out of what the band have previously established.

With a larger vocabulary, Rønnenfelt’s world has itself become larger, more inexplicable, and more alienating. In that sense, a new anger courses through these odd and often shimmeringly affective songs.

The cacophonies of crushing guitars and crashing drums are still littered all over the album, they’ve simply been augmented by the arrival of horns, strings, keys, and melodies, all melting together to make Plowing gorgeous from a songwriting standpoint.

Iceage have done a fair bit of reinvention on Plowing Into the Field of Love, but if the sound is less brutal, it's no less challenging, and emotionally this hits as hard as anything they've released to date.

While this is expressively a change in direction for the band, and probably a good one that may yield dividends on subsequent albums, Plowing Into the Field of Love does feel remarkably transitional in nature.

I think that Iceage really stand out in the modern post-punk scene because they seem to be carving out an identity of their own rather than being content to simply retread their influences. They build upon the legacy of bands like Joy Division to create something new. While I don't think their music is entirely unique, they're definitely on their way.

Elias's singing style is pure gold. This album has everything in it, great energy, good lyrics, wonderful vocals and, above all it sounds fucking great. I hope that one day they will make Soundrack for Iceage movie. I'm sure children would like that.